Practice

Most quizbowl programs host regularly-scheduled practice sessions.

Practices usually occur on weekday afternoons or evenings, after classes are over, though some schools with an "activity period" during the school day (such as Dorman) are able to run quizbowl practices during a period that would otherwise be class time.

Practices are usually run by the coach (or, if there is no coach, by the team captain). The most common quizbowl practice activity is reading packets from previous tournaments to all the attending members of the team. Some teams use some of their practice time to look up or learn about important quizbowl topics. Key goals of practice include increasing players' familiarity with quizbowl and the canon, improvement of playing instincts, and straightforward knowledge acquisition.

Regular attendance at practice is a critical sign of dedication and a vital ingredient to improving as a player. A player who attends multiple practices a week throughout the year, and hears good, difficulty-appropriate academic questions at all of them, will have a much better sense of what comes up in quizbowl matches than a player who does not, and is likely to learn much more by osmosis due to their exposure to a higher number of questions.

Larger clubs may have split practices, where separate rooms are available for practicing on questions of different difficulties. Clubs may also sometimes use fun practice formats as a changeup from regular practices.